Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Encyclopedia
Will the Circle Be Unbroken is a 1972 album
officially by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
, but with collaboration from many famous Bluegrass
and country-western players, including Roy Acuff
, Mother Maybelle Carter
, Doc Watson
, Earl Scruggs
, Merle Travis
, Bashful Brother Oswald
, Norman Blake
, Jimmy Martin
, and others. It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements
to a wider audience.
by Ada R. Habershon
(famously re-arranged by A. P. Carter
) and reflects how the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was a young country-rock band with a hippie
look. Roy Acuff described them as "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys." The other players were much older and more famous from the forties, fifties and sixties, primarily as old-time country and bluegrass players. Many had become known to their generation through the Grand Ole Opry
. However, with the rise of rock-and-roll, the emergence of the commercial country's slick 'Nashville Sound
,' and changing tastes in music, their popularity had waned somewhat from their glory years.
Every track on the album was recorded on the first or second take straight to two-track masters, so the takes are raw and unprocessed. Additionally, another tape ran continuously throughout the entire week-long recording session, and captured the dialog between the players. On the final album many of the tracks begin with the musicians discussing how to do the song or who should come in where, and provides a rare insight into the workmanship and approach that these highly-regarded musicians used to make their music, and how they decided to work together.
Originally appearing in 1972 as a three LP
album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken was remastered and re-released in 2002 as a two compact disc
set.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band made two subsequent albums, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two
and Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III
, in an attempt to repeat the process with other historically significant musicians. Vol. 2 won the Country Music Association
's 1989 Album of the Year as well as three Grammy's. In 1990, the album was celebrated on the PBS
music television program Austin City Limits
, which featured a performance by the full ensemble of guests on the Carter Family
song, Will The Circle Be Unbroken
, from the original 1972 album.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
officially by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...
, but with collaboration from many famous Bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
and country-western players, including Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...
, Mother Maybelle Carter
Maybelle Carter
"Mother" Maybelle Carter was an American country musician. She is best known as a member of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930s and also as a member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters.-Biography:...
, Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
, Earl Scruggs
Earl Scruggs
Earl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
, Merle Travis
Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...
, Bashful Brother Oswald
Bashful Brother Oswald
Beecher Ray Kirby , better known as Bashful Brother Oswald, was an American country musician who popularized the use of the resonator guitar and Dobro...
, Norman Blake
Norman Blake (American musician)
Norman Blake is an instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 50 years Blake has played in a number of folk and Country groups...
, Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin
Jimmy Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".-Early years:Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee. Jimmy Martin was born into the hard farming life of rural East Tennessee. He grew up near Sneedville, singing in church and with friends from surrounding...
, and others. It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements was a Grammy Award- winning American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical...
to a wider audience.
History
The album's title comes from a songWill the Circle Be Unbroken?
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" is a popular Christian hymn written by Ada R. Habershon with music by Charles H. Gabriel. The song is often recorded unattributed.-Lyrics:...
by Ada R. Habershon
Ada R. Habershon
Ada Ruth Habershon was a Christian hymnist, probably best known for her 1907 hymn "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?"-Biography:Ada R. Habershon was born in Marylebone, England on January 8, 1861. Her father, Dr. Samuel Osborne Habershon, was a noted physician; her mother was Grace Habershon. ...
(famously re-arranged by A. P. Carter
A. P. Carter
Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter , best known as A.P. Carter, was an American musician and founding member of The Carter Family, one of the most notable acts in the history of country music.-Life:...
) and reflects how the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was a young country-rock band with a hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
look. Roy Acuff described them as "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys." The other players were much older and more famous from the forties, fifties and sixties, primarily as old-time country and bluegrass players. Many had become known to their generation through the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. However, with the rise of rock-and-roll, the emergence of the commercial country's slick 'Nashville Sound
Nashville sound
The Nashville sound originated during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of honky tonk music which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s...
,' and changing tastes in music, their popularity had waned somewhat from their glory years.
Every track on the album was recorded on the first or second take straight to two-track masters, so the takes are raw and unprocessed. Additionally, another tape ran continuously throughout the entire week-long recording session, and captured the dialog between the players. On the final album many of the tracks begin with the musicians discussing how to do the song or who should come in where, and provides a rare insight into the workmanship and approach that these highly-regarded musicians used to make their music, and how they decided to work together.
Originally appearing in 1972 as a three LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken was remastered and re-released in 2002 as a two compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
set.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band made two subsequent albums, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two
Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two is a 1989 album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The album follows the same concept as the band's 1972 album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which featured guest performances from many notable country music stars.-Composition:Circle II features largely acoustic,...
and Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III
Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III
Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Volume III is the 2002 album from The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is notable for having many charting albums and singles...
, in an attempt to repeat the process with other historically significant musicians. Vol. 2 won the Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
's 1989 Album of the Year as well as three Grammy's. In 1990, the album was celebrated on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
music television program Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
, which featured a performance by the full ensemble of guests on the Carter Family
Carter Family
The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. They were the first vocal group to become country...
song, Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)
"Can the Circle Be Unbroken " is the title of a country/folk song reworked by A. P. Carter from the hymn "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" by Ada R. Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel. The song's lyrics concern the death, funeral, and mourning of the narrator's mother.The song first gained attention due...
, from the original 1972 album.
Disc one
- "Grand Ole Opry Song" (Hylo Brown) – 2:59 with Jimmy MartinJimmy MartinJimmy Martin was an American bluegrass musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".-Early years:Born James H. Martin in Sneedville, Tennessee. Jimmy Martin was born into the hard farming life of rural East Tennessee. He grew up near Sneedville, singing in church and with friends from surrounding...
- "Keep on the Sunny Side" (A.P. Carter, Gary Garett) – 3:35 with Maybelle CarterMaybelle Carter"Mother" Maybelle Carter was an American country musician. She is best known as a member of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930s and also as a member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters.-Biography:...
- "Nashville Blues" (Earl ScruggsEarl ScruggsEarl Eugene Scruggs is an American musician noted for perfecting and popularizing a 3-finger banjo-picking style that is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music...
) – 3:10 - "You Are My Flower" (A.P. Carter) – 3:35
- "The Precious Jewel" (Roy AcuffRoy AcuffRoy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...
) – 3:30 with Roy Acuff - "Dark as a DungeonDark as a Dungeon"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions....
" (Merle TravisMerle TravisMerle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...
) – 2:45 with Merle Travis - "Tennessee Stud" (Jimmie Driftwood) – 4:22 with Doc WatsonDoc WatsonArthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
- "Black Mountain Rag" (traditional) – 2:10
- "Wreck on the Highway" (Dorsey DixonDorsey DixonDorsey Murdock Dixon was an American old-time and country music songwriter and musician. He was also a millworker who spent much of his life working in textile mills in North and South Carolina...
) – 3:24 with Roy Acuff - "The End of the World" (Fred RoseFred Rose (musician)Fred Rose was an American Hall of Fame songwriter and music publishing executive.-Biography:Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose started playing piano and singing as a small boy. In his teens, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked in bars busking for tips, and finally vaudeville...
) – 3:53 - "I Saw the Light" (Hank Williams) – 3:45 with Roy Acuff
- "Sunny Side of the Mountain" (Byron Gregory, Harry McAuliffe) – 2:14
- "Nine Pound Hammer" (Merle Travis) – 2:14
- "Losin' You (Might Be the Best Thing Yet)" (Edria A. Humphrey, Jimmy Martin) – 2:44 with Jimmy Martin
- "Honky Tonkin'" (Hank Williams) – 2:19
- "You Don't Know My Mind" (Jimmie Skinner) – 2:45 with Jimmy Martin
- "My Walkin' Shoes" (Jimmy Martin, Paul Williams) – 2:02 with Jimmy Martin
Disc two
- "Lonesome Fiddle Blues" (Vassar Clements) – 2:41
- "Cannonball Rag" (Merle Travis) – 1:15 with Merle Travis
- "Avalanche" (Millie Clements) – 2:50
- "Flint Hill Special" (Earl Scruggs) – 2:12
- "Togary Mountain" (Walter McEuen) – 2:25
- "Earl's Breakdown" (Earl Scruggs) – 2:34
- "Orange Blossom SpecialOrange Blossom Special (song)The fiddle tune "Orange Blossom Special", about the passenger train of the same name, was written by Ervin T. Rouse in 1938. The original recording was created by Ervin and Gordon Rouse in 1939. It is considered the best known fiddle tune of the twentieth century and is often called simply The...
" (Ervin T. Rouse) – 2:14 with Vassar ClementsVassar ClementsVassar Clements was a Grammy Award- winning American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical... - "Wabash Cannonball" (A.P. Carter) – 2:00
- "Lost Highway" (Leon PayneLeon PayneLeon Payne , "the Blind Balladeer", was a country music singer and songwriter.-Life:Leon Roger Payne was born in Alba, Texas on June 15, 1917. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight of the other eye in early childhood. He attended the Texas School for the Blind from 1924 to 1935,...
) – 3:37 - Doc Watson & Merle Travis First Meeting (Dialogue) – 1:52
- "Way Downtown" (traditional, Doc Watson) – 3:30 with Doc Watson
- "Down Yonder" (Doc Watson) – 1:48 with Doc Watson
- "Pins and Needles (In My Heart)" (Floyd Jenkins) – 2:53 with Roy Acuff
- "Honky Tonk Blues" (Hank Williams) – 2:22
- "Sailin' on to Hawaii" (Beecher Kirby) – 2:00 with Bashful Brother OswaldBashful Brother OswaldBeecher Ray Kirby , better known as Bashful Brother Oswald, was an American country musician who popularized the use of the resonator guitar and Dobro...
- "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" (A.P. Carter) – 4:25
- "I am a Pilgrim" (traditional) – 2:55
- "Wildwood FlowerWildwood Flower"Wildwood Flower" is an American song, best known through performances and recordings by the Carter Family. However, the song predates them. The original title was "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets"...
" (A.P. Carter) – 3:34 with Maybelle Carter - "Soldier's Joy" (John McEuen, Earl Scruggs) – 2:05
- "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" (A.P. Carter) – 4:50
- "Both Sides NowBoth Sides Now (song)"Both Sides, Now" is a single by Joni Mitchell. Her recording first appeared on the album Clouds, released in 1969. She re-recorded the song in a jazz style for the album of the same name, released in 2000....
" (Joni MitchellJoni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
) – 2:19 with Randy ScruggsRandy ScruggsRandy Scruggs is a music producer, songwriter and guitarist. He had his first recording at the age of 13...
- 2002 Reissue bonus tracks
- "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (Earl Scruggs) – 2:39
- Warming Up for "The Opry" – 2:43
- Sunny Side – 4:06
- "Remember Me" (Scotty Wiseman) – 1:32